Is it just me...

[GrySun]

...or is Awakening not as fun as many other fire emblem games?

Awakening was my first fire emblem game and I loved it, especially the extremely well made support system which is unmatched by any other fire emblem. The characters are much more known than in any other fire emblem before.

Still, as I played the other fire emblem games after Awakening, I realized that they may not have better characters than Awakening, or a better story, but what they do have is simply much more fun gameplay. This may or may not be due to the pair-up system, and that it is always better to pair up all your units at turn 1(except the Tiki paralogue), than to have every unit fight as a single unit.

And for last, there are simply more strategies to use in the other fire emblem games, than in Awakening, probably because pair-up pretty much leaves only a few possible options. This also makes the only difficulty to hope for dual attack/guard.

[Florete]

Pretty sure it's just you.

How is Awakening your favorite FE?

[Magical Glace]

...or is Awakening not as fun as many other fire emblem games?

Awakening was my first fire emblem game and I loved it, especially the extremely well made support system which is unmatched by any other fire emblem. The characters are much more known than in any other fire emblem before.

Still, as I played the other fire emblem games after Awakening, I realized that they may not have better characters than Awakening, or a better story, but what they do have is simply much more fun gameplay. This may or may not be due to the pair-up system, and that it is always better to pair up all your units at turn 1(except the Tiki paralogue), than to have every unit fight as a single unit.

And for last, there are simply more strategies to use in the other fire emblem games, than in Awakening, probably because pair-up pretty much leaves only a few possible options. This also makes the only difficulty to hope for dual attack/guard.

...Awakening is generally agreed to have one of the worst plots and casts in the series... Just saying.

As for the other games being more fun, I personally disliked quite a few things about FE13, mainly because outside of Lunatic (which is far to big of a difficulty jump) and Lunatic+, the late game is easier than most late games in the series because of Pair up and grinding. To make matters worse, grinding is easier than in no-glitch playthroughs of FE8 (glitching FE8 can get everyone unlimited 1-2 range weapons so you don't have to constantly pay for new ones).

So in other words, FE13 NM/HM starts on par with other FE games... Then gradually becomes such a joke because of curb stomping through its sad excuse for a plot with OP units.

Lunatic/+, on the other hand, just seems like a terrible way to increase difficulty and I don't deem either to be worth my time. I like a challange, but not stupid "let's inflate enemy stats far beyond anything the player can have at that point then give them OP skills to boot!"

[sirmola]

...or is Awakening not as fun as many other fire emblem games?

Awakening was my first fire emblem game and I loved it, especially the extremely well made support system which is unmatched by any other fire emblem. The characters are much more known than in any other fire emblem before.

Still, as I played the other fire emblem games after Awakening, I realized that they may not have better characters than Awakening, or a better story, but what they do have is simply much more fun gameplay. This may or may not be due to the pair-up system, and that it is always better to pair up all your units at turn 1(except the Tiki paralogue), than to have every unit fight as a single unit.

And for last, there are simply more strategies to use in the other fire emblem games, than in Awakening, probably because pair-up pretty much leaves only a few possible options. This also makes the only difficulty to hope for dual attack/guard.

Honestly, my issue with awakening was the plot. The gameplay was exelent. THe only fe games that i have played that have have "funner" gameplay are 4 and "5" (6 if you go with some random intsys member's off the cuff remark) (thracia because you probably didn't get that reference.) And that's because the gameplay is different enough (both from other fe games and each other) to scratch a different itch. I personaly am a scifi nerd who loves time travel stories. As such, i realised that awakening's time travel plot is incredably internaly inconsistent. (if it were consistent, grima would never have traveled back to the past/current timeline because to reasionabe method of travel between alternate universes does causes people to disappear). As for the characters, they are honestly some of the best writen distilations of anime tropes that i have seen in years. Many people strongly dislike this. However if you happen to like something that other poeple dislike, good for you, as long as you understand why others dislike it. The same applies to what you dislike, if you know why others like it. After all, likes/dislikes are a matter of personal taste. I say this as someone who likes shadow dragon, fe4, and all 3 golden sun games(all of which have massive hatedoms.) I can see why other people dislike them, but i personally happen to like them.

Edited October 19, 2014 by sirmola

[bookofholsety]

Still, as I played the other fire emblem games after Awakening, I realized that they may not have better characters than Awakening, or a better story, but what they do have is simply much more fun gameplay.

HA

(the "more fun gameplay" is pretty subjective though. i mean sometimes i feel like the meatier strategic experience of past games, and sometimes i just want to keep myself distracted with a spot of cap-ramming grinding or relatively mindless breezing through a skirmish or dlc episode or something)

Edited October 19, 2014 by bookofholsety

[RJWalker]

Another topic about Awakening not being good? SIGN ME UP!

[Anacybele]

I found Awakening fun to play, I just felt that the story really hurt it. It's just...boring. I want Tellius-quality stories again. :( I was really hooked to PoR and RD because of the amazing story and equally fun gameplay and characters (especially a certain blue-haired mercenary ). Awakening just...failed in the story department. I liked a bunch of its characters, but besides Avatar, I found the lords boring and uninteresting. And even Avatar had some big flaws (like all the ass-kissing he/she gets). The villains were kind of boring too, except for maybe Gangrel, who I only found interesting when his paralogue came out. The gameplay was the only really excellent thing about Awakening, imo.

[Knight]

People give this game too much crap, I think it's very fun, maybe my 3rd favourite. It's story isn't really that bad in my opinion either, it only has a few, albeit very large, flaws, but is otherwise a pretty nice story.

[BrightBow]

I'm not sure were the fun in this game is supposed to come from. Every map is an endurance round against hordes of random enemies charging from all directions, so they are all approched in the same way and things get boring fast. I had to force myself through the entire second half of the game because of how dull it was. The story isn't helping much either since after the death of the Hierarch, the story stays for the most part consistently awful and doesn't hit any new lows until the Grima arc.

That's what it all comes down to. When the characters aren't annoying or the game's writing isn't disgusting or insultingly stupid, then the game is just plain boring.

Edited October 20, 2014 by BrightBow

[Celice]

While I enjoyed Fire Emblem, I found it fairly uninspired, in its plot, aesthetics, and its map design. Everything felt decidedly average, as if it had come from another developer altogether. I had inklings of the same feeling when I first started playing Days of Ruin,and it was very strange to see it appear again in the latest Fire Emblem.

I'm looking forward to see how the next game in the series fares.

[Jotari]

I found Awakening to be a little too fun. You can enjoy sinking hours upon hours into it without actually accomplishing much. The other games might be subjectively better, but Awakening is very playable. Fun is the one thing I don't believe it is lacking. But fun doesn't equal quality in the slightest.

[Shin]

I'd rather have played FE13 than not, but I do admit I enjoyed most other games in the series more.

[Ownagepuffs]

Shin nailed it.

For what its worth Awakening gives you bang for your buck. There is a lot of content and replayability. No matter how much I shit talk Awakening, the clock does not lie. I didn't put in 300+ hours for a game I didn't enjoy.

But man as a Fire Emblem is is just lacking. Hard. Aside from pair up, the game seems to be an amalgamation of popular mechanics. Class change, branch promo, children, skills, MU, the whole package. Thing is, you don't really have enough time to take advantage of it all. In isolation each of those mechanics worked great because you could take advantage of it within the game. There isn't enough high end content to really make the most out of Awakening, and I can only play Apotheosis so many times.

I digress. Worth a play, but still lacking as an FE.